Abstract
Mass incarceration is a social structural driver of poor social and health outcomes for people and communities beyond individuals formerly entangled in the criminal legal system (CLS). The existing research examining the spillover or reverberating social and health effects of mass incarceration on communities and families usually examines these impacts separately. This study bridges these research lines employing a social ecological framework and a concurrent mixed methods approach. I argue fundamental causes of health disparities such as structural racism, racial capitalism, and residential segregation, coupled with an intersectionality framework are useful theories to assess how communities with high incarceration rates, and families, particularly Black and Hispanic women who support a male incarcerated loved one (MILO), experience adverse health and well-being effects as they exist at the nexus of the incarceration and health relationship. Quantitatively, I used U.S. county-level data from 2014 to conduct cross-sectional and causal (2-year lagged incarceration rates) OLS regression analyses examining the relationship between mass incarceration (prison, jail, total) and Black-White health disparities in cause-specific mortality outcomes. Qualitatively, I conducted one-on-one interviews with 11 Black and Hispanic women in Florida who reported supporting a current or formerly incarcerated male loved one. I used a general inductive approach to understand how their close connection to the carceral system affects their health and quality of health. Taken together, these results reveal how mass incarceration reverberates beyond people directly under the control of the carceral system to negatively impact the health and quality of life of communities and families closely connected to its system. Policy implications such as decarceration and community investment, and recommendations for future research are enclosed.